Rauhaus Freedenfeld & Associates LLP v. Prince (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-075-17)

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT. 1684CV02016-BLS2 ____________________ RAUHAUS FREEDENFELD & ASSOCIATES LLP v. TODD PRINCE ____________________ MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO DISMISS COUNTERCLAIMS Rauhaus Freedenfeld & Associates LLP is an architectural firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in designing animal hospitals. It is suing Todd Prince for not paying Plaintiff in full for designing renovations for an animal hospital owned by Prince in Deerfield, Illinois. Prince asserts various counterclaims. Plaintiff has moved to dismiss four of the five the counterclaims; it does not seek dismissal of the counterclaim for breach of contract (Count I). The Court will allow the motion in part and deny it in part. Specifically, it will dismiss the claim for negligent misrepresentation but otherwise deny the motion to dismiss. 1. Fraud Claim. Plaintiff argues that the counterclaim for fraud (Count II) is not pleaded with the particularity required by Mass. R. Civ. P. 9(b). Under this rule, a claimant must “at a minimum” support their claim for fraud by specifically alleging “the identity of the person(s) making the” allegedly fraudulent “representation, the contents of the misrepresentation, and where and when it took place,” and must also “specify the materiality of the misrepresentation, [his] reliance thereon, and resulting harm.” Equipment & Systems for Industry, Inc. v. NorthMeadows Constr. Co., Inc., 59 Mass. App. Ct. 931, 931-932 (2003) (rescript). Prince has stated his fraud claim with sufficient particularity. The allegations in the counterclaim plausibly suggest that Plaintiff’s agent made specific and false statements of fact to Prince at a meeting in September 2015, Plaintiff made specific and false promises in the parties’ contract that Plaintiff never intended to perform, Plaintiff made these false statements and promises to induce Prince to sign the contract, Prince did so to his detriment, and as a result Prince was damaged in that he paid $ 126,098.56 for draft drawings that he cannot use. These allegations state a claim for fraud. See Masingill v. EMC Corp., 449 Mass. 532, 540 (2007) (elements of – 2 – fraud); McCarthy v. Brockton Natl. Bank, 314 Mass. 318, 325 (1943) (“A principal is liable for the fraud committed by his agent or servant acting within the scope of his employment.”); Cumis Ins. Society v. BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc., 455 Mass. 458, 474 (2009) (fraud claim may be based on false promise if “the promisor had no intention to perform the promise at the time it was made”) (quoting Yerid v. Mason, 341 Mass. 527, 530 (1960)). The Court reminds the parties, however, that an “intention not to perform a promise” cannot be inferred merely from later “nonperformance of the promise.” Galotti v. United States Trust Co., 335 Mass. 496, 501 (1957); […]

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